Ministry assesses varsity student loan issuance process

Dar es Salaam. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has given a period of one month to a team of three experts tasked with reviewing the entire process of issuing student loans over the past five years to provide answers that will help clarify the complaints that have been emerging.

The docket’s minister, Prof Adolf Mkenda on Monday officially introduced the team to the Board and Management of the Higher Education Student Loans Board (HESLB) while stating that the answers to their audit will help in how to improve the procedure.

In recent years, there have been complaints from a number of students claiming to have the qualifications to get higher education loans but they were not successful, while others including parents assert that there has been bias in the distribution of higher education loans in the country.

Also read on: Role of banks in financing student loans

Despite the HESLB management providing clarification on who should get the loan and what to do, including how to apply with all the necessary documents attached, the three appointed experts are going to, among other things, confirm the claims within the past five years of students’ loan disbursement.

Introducing the experts in Dar es Salaam, Prof Mkenda noted that the team will also look at the information that has been used to apply for loans in the set period to see if they were sufficient or if additional information will be needed to improve the exercise, a task that they will be required to accomplish within one month.

Prof Mkenda named the members of the team as Prof Allen Mushi, Dr Martin Chegere and Mr Iddi Makame adding that all the members were professionals who he believed would work with proficiency and high level of dedication.

“The main goal of conducting this review is to ensure that we improve the exercise of lending and ensure that it is disbursed fairly by following the criteria announced in order to reduce or completely eliminate the complaints that have been emerging,” explained Prof Mkenda.

At the same time, the minister asked students who will apply for loans to ensure that they provide complete and accurate information to avoid missing out on the funding.

In the meeting, the Chairperson of the HESLB Board, Prof Hamisi Dihenga said the Board will cooperate with the team to ensure that the work is completed with great success.

Read on: Sustainability of higher education loan financing raises questions

For his part, while speaking on behalf of the team, Prof Mushi acknowledged the Ministry for having faith in them and promised to work professionally and honestly to provide answers that will help increase the effectiveness of HESLB.

Pertaining the same, the executive director of HESLB, Mr Abdul-Razaq Badru said through a team of three experts appointed to go through the board’s operational system, answers will be found that would help improve the efficiency of the fund.